3D Print Effects (And Where To Get Those Goofy Glasses)

For a brief time back in the 1950s, 3D movies were all the rage, but it was short-lived, probably because you had to wear those cheesy-looking 3D glasses to experience the effect. Although 3D has come a long way since then, unfortunately you still have to wear the cheesy glasses. Be that as it may, the 3D effect is starting to appear again in print ads in trendy magazines, which generally include the paper 3D glasses in the magazine. This effect can be created in Photoshop, no problem. The hardest part is finding a supplier for 3D glasses (okay, we’ll help on that part too. Try 3D Glasses Direct at www.3dglasses.net). Here’s a tip on how to create the 3D effect in Photoshop: Open an RGB image, then go to the Channels palette and click on the Red channel. Go under the Filter menu, under Other, and choose Offset. For Horizontal enter –5 and set Vertical to zero. For Undefined Areas, choose Repeat Edge Pixels, then click OK. In the Channels palette, click on the RGB channel to reveal the effect. Then, lastly, you have to determine which part you want to appear as “coming out of the image” toward the person viewing it. Switch to the History Brush (Y), and using a soft-edged brush, paint over the area you want to “jump out” from the image. As you paint with the History Brush, you’ll see your original untouched image paint back in (don’t sweat it, that’s what it’s supposed to do). Now all you have to do is order the glasses.